Reviews

In all fairness, A Bug's Life is probably an immensely entertaining film for kids. I know when I was a kid I loved it. And even now, I find a few moments in the movie amusing.

HOWEVER: The biggest problem with this movie was that it was far, far, FAAR too predictable! I can give you some examples. Right from the get-go, you can predict Princess Ata will become Queen at the end. As soon as you see Princess Dot trying and failing to fly, you know she will be able to do so by the end. When you see everybody hating Flik and his inventions, you know that by the end everyone will love them both. The second you discover Hopper's fear of birds, you know that that is how he will meet his demise. You can also tell that Heimlich will become a butterfly before all is over.

I honestly cannot believe how this movie beat "Antz" in popularity, when the latter film was an altogether funnier, cleverer, and more entertaining film with a more engaging storyline and characters. I give this movie 5/10, because I don't want to be too harsh on it when it has several redeeming features. But I do not think that it was nearly as good as Antz, and certainly too predictable.

When I heard about this movie, I was expecting another remake of the old legend. Which was fine with me, as I am a great fan of the legend. I went and saw it, and was completely surprised. What we have here is not a fairy tell brimming with completely selfless men in shining armour, doing their duty to protect peace without a thought for themselves. No. This is a much more realistic take on the legend, in the sense that it shows the actual harshness of the period in which it takes place. Nobody (Romans and Arthur aside) wears flawless armour and carries a jewel-encrusted sword. The knights are just ordinary men, taken from Sarmatia by the Romans to serve in the Empire as knights. They are not at all pleased to be fighting, and long to get back to home. Doesn't that sound so much more likely?

This movie takes place at the end of the fifteen years a group of Sarmatians (Lancelot, Galahad, Gawain, Tristan, Bors, and Dagonet) have to serve to Rome. They are eagerly anticipating returning home, when they are sent on one final mission. They are extremely displeased, as would be expected. They must rescue an important Roman family in the north from a massive Saxon invasion.

I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. I don't actually care if the history was slightly off (Saxons and Romans at the same time), it was just a very entertaining film. The characters are interesting, the scenery is terrific, the battle scenes are brilliant, and the script can be funny even in such a serious plot. My only criticism would have to be that I found Arthur himself a little wooden. But that does not affect the movie in any way, because he is still an extremely cool character. All the knights were, in any case. Bors was hilarious, Tristan was just so stylish in his fighting, and Dagonet (my favourite) was a formidable fighter but turned out to be the soft one, when it came to children.

If you are expecting the traditional legend and seeing it differently will anger you, do not watch this movie. Myself, I actually liked this one more than the old one. I give it 10/10!

Bors: "Beautiful Sarmatian woman? Why d'you think we left in the first place? Moooo!"

This short had me doubled-up with laughter, even more so than some of the episodes in the Blackadder series. If they are to be given ranks, Blackadder (Rowan Atkinson) is the King of Comedy, and Baldrick (Tony Robinson) is the equally funny Dung-Shoveller of Comedy.

Stephen Fry does a very good impersonation of Prince Charles in his role as King Charles.

There are some very good lines ("[Cromwell]'s got so many warts on his face it's only when he sneezes that you find out which one is his nose." - Blackadder). As always, of course.

Great fun!